Wasserwirtschaftliche Schlussfolgerungen aus der Stichtagsbeprobung eines 225 km2 großen Einzugsgebietes im NW Tauernfenster, Österreich

Grundwasser - Wie in anderen Alpenregionen auch, erfolgt die Trinkwasserversorgung in den Zillertaler Alpen vorwiegend privat oder in Genossenschaften aus nahe gelegenen Quellen, typischerweise mit...     

Intermolecular Excited-State Proton Transfer in Clusters of 1-Naphthol with Water and with Ammonia

The excited-state proton transfer reactions of 1-naphthol(H₂O)_n and 1-naphthol(NH₃)_n clusters are compared. Both exisiting and new data suggest that the two systems may react in strikingly different fashions, roughly corresponding to non-adiabatic and adiabatic limiting cases, respectively. In water clusters, the reaction is kinetically limited by solvent motion, and there is a strong dynamic interaction involving the water and two lowest electronic excited states, which thereby invert. In ammonia clusters, the excited states appear to be premixed by the the stronger base, and the reaction may proceed in a rapid manner, resembling intracluster vibrational relaxation, with relatively little solvent reorganization.     

Herstellungs- und Bemessungsgrundlagen für einen verlaufsgesteuerten Trinkwasserbrunnen als Pilotversuch an einem Standort in Krefeld

Das Fassungskonzept eines verlaufsgesteuerten Horizontalfilterbrunnens für eine Trinkwassergewinnung wird am Standort “In der Elt”, Krefeld, erstmals angewendet. Fluviatile Sande und Kiese der Niederterrasse des Rheins bilden hier einen flachgründigen geringm?chtigen Grundwasserleiter gro?er Druchl?ssigkeit. Die Errichtung konventioneller Brunnen ist dort aufgrund der hydrogeologischen Verh?ltnisse unwirtschaftlich.     

The formation of virtual organizations by means of electronic institutions in a 3D e-Tourism environment

In this article we showcase an agent-mediated B2C and B2B e-Marketplace. This e-Marketplace is part of the social and immersive 3D e-Tourism environment “Itchy Feet”. We give an overview of the framework that forms the basis of the e-Marketplace and show how it is used to create B2C-, B2B- and Virtual Organizations that are visualized in a 3D Virtual World. This interface provides users with an intuitive and easy way to interact with humans and software agents by means of a 3D Virtual World. The business logic is realized by autonomous software agents offering services to customers. The e-Marketplace is regulated by Electronic Institutions to ensure that all participants adhere to the rules of the market. The article is concluded with a detailed discussion on bridging the gaps between Multi-Agent Systems and 3D Virtual Worlds and the preliminary results of a conducted usability study of “Itchy Feet”.     

The age prospective memory paradox: Young adults may not give their best outside of the lab.

Previous research has identified the age prospective memory paradox of age-related declines in laboratory settings in contrast to age benefits in naturalistic settings. Various factors are assumed to account for this paradox, yet empirical evidence on this issue is scarce. In 2 experiments, the present study examined the effect of task setting in a laboratory task and the effect of motivation in a naturalistic task on prospective memory performance in young and older adults. For the laboratory task (Experiment 1, n = 40), we used a board game to simulate a week of daily activities and varied features of the prospective memory task (e.g., task regularity). For the naturalistic task (Experiment 2, n = 80), we instructed participants to try to remember to contact the experimenter repeatedly over the course of 1 week. Results from the laboratory prospective memory tasks indicated significant age-related decline for irregular tasks (p = .006) but not for regular and focal tasks. In addition, in the naturalistic task, the age benefit was eliminated when young adults were motivated by incentives (F     

Adoptive Immunotherapy Strategies with Cytokine-Induced Killer (CIK) Cells in the Treatment of Hematological Malignancies

Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are a heterogeneous population of immune effector cells that feature a mixed T- and Natural killer (NK) cell-like phenotype in their terminally-differentiated CD3⁺CD56⁺ subset. The easy availability, high proliferation rate and widely major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-unrestricted antitumor activity of CIK cells contribute to their particularly advantageous profile, making them an attractive approach for adoptive immunotherapy. CIK cells have shown considerable cytotoxicity against both solid tumors and hematological malignancies in vitro and in animal studies. Recently, initial clinical experiences demonstrated the feasibility and efficacy of CIK cell immunotherapy in cancer patients, even at advanced disease stages. Likewise, the clinical application of CIK cells in combination with standard therapeutic procedures revealed synergistic antitumor effects. In this report, we will focus our consideration on CIK cells in the treatment of hematological malignancies. We will give insight into the latest advances and future perspectives and outline the most prominent results obtained in 17 clinical studies. Overall, CIK cells demonstrated a crucial impact on the treatment of patients with hematological malignancies, as evidenced by complete remissions, prolonged survival durations and improved quality of life. However, up to now, the optimal application schedule eventually favoring their integration into clinical practice has still to be developed.     

Direct Evidence for Membrane Transport of Host-Plant-Derived Pyrrolizidine Alkaloid N-Oxides in Two Leaf Beetle Genera

The chrysomelid leaf beetles Longitarsus jacobaeae, Oreina cacaliae, and O. speciosissima sequester pyrrolizidine alkaloids from their asteracean host plants and store them as nontoxic N-oxides. Previous analyses showed that Longitarsus is able to N-oxidize protoxic tertiary PAs, but did not resolve in which form N-oxides are taken up. For Oreina, beetles seem able to directly transmit the polar PA N-oxides from the gut into the hemolymph and prevent any reduction of them in the gut yielding protoxic free bases. Here, we confirm the predicted direct uptake of PAs as N-oxides by Oreina, and elucidate the situation for Longitarsus by applying double-labeled [14C]senecionine [18O]N-oxide as tracer. The beetles were fed with the tracer and subsequently senecionine N-oxide was recovered from the defensive secretions (Oreina) and beetle extracts (Longitarsus), purified by HPLC, and submitted to ESI-MS, GC-MS, and analysis of the specific radioactivity. The 18O-label is retained without any loss in the labeled senecionine N-oxide recovered from the two Oreina species. Analysis of the Longitarsus experiment was complicated by a contamination of the HPLC-purified senecionine N-oxide with a second compound, identified as a dihydrosenecionine N-oxide by high-resolution CID analysis. The dihydrosenecionine N-oxide, probably the 15,20-dihydro derivative, constitutes a major idiosyncratic senecionine metabolite present in the beetle. The recovered senecionine N-oxide retained 74% 18O-label. The remaining 25% is mostly due to loss of 18O by reduction and subsequent re-N-oxidation. The experiments confirm for both beetle genera a direct uptake of the polar nontoxic PA N-oxides, which requires specific membrane carriers. Accumulation of detrimental free base PA is prevented by glucosylation (Oreina) or N-oxidation (Longitarsus).     

Die Virtuelle Poststelle des Bundes

Zusammenfassung  Die Virtuelle Poststelle (VPS) des Bundes wurde jetzt nach Common Criteria evaluiert und zertifiziert. Dieses nach Signaturgesetz best?tigte E-Government-Kommunikations-Gateway erm?glicht rechtsverbindliche elektronische Signaturen. Die Autoren stellen die VPS vor und erl?utern das durchgeführte Evaluierungsverfahren. Dr. S?nke Maseberg Berater für Datenschutz und Datensicherheit, Common-Criteria-Evaluator datenschutz nord GmbH Dipl. Inf. Matthias Intemann Produktmanagement, Projektleitung Evaluierung Dipl. Inf. Ingo Schumann Produktmanagement, Projektleitung Evaluierung